Fourteen year old Cadence rushed out of her seventh period class. She had left a minute early, but her teacher was very nice and didn't really care. She yanked open her locker and grabbed her already packed backpack. Cadence was out of the school even before the bell rang. Her school was right beside this amazing huge hill that dropped off onto a small cliff overlooking a vast dry valley. Cadence ran up the hill as fast as she could, dropping her backpack as she ran. She already had her camera in her hands. As she got to the top of the hill she dropped onto her stomach and watched the valley through her camera.

Two minutes. Three minutes. Four. Five. Six. Nothing. Then out of the corner of her eye she saw a flash of metal. A blue and red truck and a yellow Chevy Camero sped across the dirt. She got her camera ready. Cadence took two pictures then pulled a small notebook from her pocket.

Camero lllll lllll lll

Ambulance lllll l

Semi-truck lllll lllll lllll l

Green truck lllll lllll l

Motorcycle lllll lllll lll

White car w/ green & red ll

White car w/ red and blue lllll lll

Grey Jets lllll lllll lllll lll

Cadence put another mark by the Camero and Semi-truck. She looked through the camera scope one more time.

"Still spying on those poor people?" Cadence jumped. Her best friend Sierra laid down beside her.

"I told you Sierra, they are not people. I'm sure of it."

"Yea. But you still haven't told me who they are then, if they're not people. Dude, you're obsessed. Relax."

Cadence smiled. "Sorry. Hey, it's Friday. You wanna hang out?" Sierra shrugged and the girls walked back to Cadence's house.

That night they were lying on the floor watching The Avengers. It was Cadence's favorite movie, but she wasn't watching it. She had a pile of papers in front of her that she was sifting through and making notes. Sierra began to laugh. Cadence looked up, "We need a plan of attack!" "I have a plan, attack!"

Cadence smiled.

She fell asleep a few minutes later, on top of her work. Cadence never fell asleep early. Sierra leaned over and looked at her friends work. Pictures of cars. Pictures of strange metal things. Notebooks full of random stuff. Sierra had always told her friend she was crazy, but now, she was really beginning to wonder.

The next morning Cadence was the first up. She got dressed before the sun was out and threw all her stuff into her backpack, a different one than what she used for school. Cadence hung her camera around her neck then quietly left the house. It was only three in the morning. It wouldn't be light until eight; that gave her five hours. She would even be back before Sierra got up.

Cadence grabbed her bike and rode off the hill. She parked her bike at the school and walked up to the hill. She had duct taped night vision goggles to her head so they wouldn't fall if she ran. She carefully climbed the hill, then slid down the Cliffside onto the dry cracked ground. There was a lot of that in Jasper. Dry, waterless earth. Cadence sat on the ground leaning against the towering wall of dirt. Her presents was completely unknown by any one. She sat and watched for an hour without moving. Then, way off in the distance, she saw something. Just a quick flash of orange. Then pink. Then blue. Then orange again. Whatever it was, they were really far away.

Cadence jumped up and ran toward the light. She was close enough to just barely see. There were four large dark shapes moving. There were orange, blue, and pink flashes coming from them. Cadence wasn't actually sure what she saw. They seemed metal, from what she could see in the quick flashes of light. They were shooting at each other.

She turned her camera to 'video' and began to film.

"Soundwave! Ground bridge, now!" One of the creatures yelled. It looked like the one shooting pink. A green light appeared and the object ran into it. There was a strange electronic beeping sound and seconds later, another green glow appeared. When this one disappeared, the three other things were gone.

Cadence ran to where they had been. But there was absolutely no sign. As Cadence walked back, she watched the film on her camera screen. Yes. There had defiantly been something there. She wasn't imagining it.

When she got to town it was beginning to get light out. She had sat on the hill for a while, but saw nothing. The streets were almost empty. A boy rode by on a blue motorcycle. Sort of like the one she had been watching. Cadence was pretty sure the boy's name was Jack. He went to her school, but he was older than her so they didn't have any classes together.

She made a quick note in her notebook about Jack.

When Cadence got back to her house, she and Sierra watched TV until Sierra had to leave, at one. Cadence's mom was working until eleven. And her dad was on a really long business trip. Cadence had no siblings, so she was instantly bored. Seeing nothing else to do, she grabbed her backpack and headed out again.

She was sitting at the base of the hill again. Not seeing anything. Sometimes she could go weeks without seeing the strange vehicles. Cadence gave up and put her gear away. She pulled an ironman comic book from her backpack and began to read. Not focusing on her surroundings anymore. When she finished the comic book, she glanced up. Only a couple feet in front of her was the white car with blue and red on it.

She set the comic book on the ground and picked up her backpack. Then very slowly walked to the car. But it didn't drive off. She walked to the passenger side and looked in the window. No driver.

Cadence stepped back a couple feet and the door flew open. Most people would run for the cops or something, but Cadence got in the car. As soon as she was sitting, the door closed and the car sped off.